Track rail contactor



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k'\ w\\\ \l Patented Sept. 13, 1932 we e STA -E's PATENT err-me JOHN VT.LIVINGFsTON, OF WILKINSBURG, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOB. TO THE. UNIONSWITCH & SIC-:IQ'AL COMPANY, OF SWISSVALE, PENNSYLVANIA, CORPORATION OFPENNSYLVANIA TRACK RAIL CONTACTOR I Application filed March 1, 1932.Serial No. 596,005.

My invention relates to track rail contactors, and particularly to trackrail contactors adapted for use with apparatus for the automatic controlof car retarders in accordance with the speed of the car as it movesalong the track rails. In contactors hereto fore proposed for such usesthe contactor ,ismoved upward by spring pressure and downward bypressure exerted by the flange of a car wheel.

Since such a contactor is returned to its normal position by the actionof a spring 1ts operation is not positive and the time interval requiredfor its return to its normal POSI- tion may be influenced by friction.and by variations in the extent to which it will be depressed due to thefact that the flanges of all car wheels are not of the same depth. Anobject of this invention is the provision of a novel and improved trackrail contactor for will be positive in its operation and will have asubstantially uniform period of operation irrespective of differences inthe depth of car wheel flanges. A further feature of a contactorembodying my invention is that it Wlll be returned to its normalposition when a car passes over it in either the normal or the reversedirection, thus assuring that any-control system governed by itsoperation is auto- In the accompanying drawing, Fig. 1 is a,

view showing in side elevation, with certain parts broken away, one formof contactor embodying my lnvention. Fig. 2 1s a sectional view on theline II II of Fig. 1. Fig.

3 is a detail sectional view of the spring My toggle latch takensubstantially on the l1ne III--III of Fig. 1.

Similar reference characters refer to simi lar parts in each of theviews.

Referring to the drawing,'the reference character R designates one trackrail of'a railway track. Mounted on one side of the operation by thewheels of a passing car that matically left in a normal condition aftera web of the rail R is a casting 1O whichis attached to the rail inanyconvenient manner not shown in the drawing. llis a rocker arm pivoted atits center by a pin 12 having bearings in the casting l0 and in-theouter plate 22 (see Fig. 3) screwed to lugs 23 and 47 on the casting 10at points 48, 49, and 50. The two ends of the rocker arm 11 arepositioned adjacent the head of the track rail R and the two ends areprovided with contact surfaces 13 and 14, respectively, which areadapted to be engaged by the flange of a car wheel as it moves along thetrack rail, and which are-spaced a predetermined distance apart, whichdistance, however, is lessthan theshortest distance between any twowheels of any car to pass along rail R. Normally the left-hand end ofthe rocker arm 11 is raised and the right-hand end lowered as shown byits position in Fig. 1. It follows that the flange of a car wheel whichis moving on the rail in a normal direction as indi-- cated by an arrowwill first engage the contact surface 13 of the left-hand end of therocker arm to depress the left-hand end of the rocker arm and raise theright-hand end. As the wheel moves on to the right, its flange engagesthecontact surface 14depressing the righthand end of the rocker arm andraising the left-hand end. p p

The eyebolt 16 is pinned to a jaw 17 at the left-hand end of the rockerarm 11 by a pin 18. As shownbestin Fig. 3, a trunnion block 19 iscarried by the trunnion pins 20 and 21 ournalled in the casting 10 andthe outer plate 22, respectively. As shown in Fig. 1,

the .eyebolt 16 extends through the trunnion block 19 and a spring 25under compression is carried between the block 19 and a shoulder 26 ofthe eyebolt l6. Itfollows that as soon as the rocker arm 11 isrotated-to a point where the pin 18 is above the center line of thebearing pins 20 and 21, the spring 25 will act to force the left-handend of thearm 11 upward. The right-hand end of the rocker arm 11 isprovided with a'stop 27 adapted to engage a stop surface 28 oncasting'lO'arres'ting the upward thrust of the left-hand end of arm 11by the spring 25 after a predeter mined movement has been made. ,Whenthe circuit between these contacts.

left-hand end of the arm 11 is depressed by the flange of a car wheel toa point where the pin 18 passes below the center line of the bearingpins 20 and 21, the spring acts to force the left-hand end of arm 11downward until the stop 29 engages the stop surface 30. That is to say,the spring toggle latch indicated as a whole by the reference character15 completes the movement of the rocker arm after it has been depressedto a given point by the flange of a car wheel and then retains the armin the position to which it is moved until the opposite end of therocker arm is depressed to a given point by the flange of a car wheel.

As best shown in Fig. 2, the rocker arm 11. carries by a pin 31, a plate32 of suitable material into which are secured the pins 33 and 34adapted to engage contact springs 36 and 37, respectively, located in aterminal compartment 38. It is clear that when the rocker arm 11 isrotated to the position where its right-hand end is lowered, the pins 33and 34 engage the contacts 36 and 37 completing a When the rocker arm1.1 is rotated to a position where its right-hand end is raised, thecontact pins 33 and 34 become disengaged from the con tact springs 36and 37 and the circuit controlled thereby is opened. It will beunderstood, of course, that other arrangements of circuit controllerscan be arranged to be operated by the movement of the rocker arm 11should it seem deslrable to do so. For example, the pins 33 and 34 canbe provided with insulating bushings indicated by the referencecharacter 35 and the spring 36 provided with an associated contact 39and the spring 37 provided with an associated contact 40. WVhen theright-hand end of the rocker arm is raised, pins 33 and 34 are liftedfree from the contact springs 36 and 37, respectiv-ely, and the contacts36-39 and 37-40 are closed. When the right-hand end of the rocker arm islowered, pins 33 and 34 engage the contact springs 36 and 37respectively, forcing open the contacts 36-39 and 3740. The form hereshown will serve to illustrate how circuit controlling contacts can beoperated by the movement of the rocker arm 11.

The contact surfaces 13 and 14 being a predetermined distance apart itis clear that the time interval between the closing of the circuitincluding contact springs 36 and 37 in response to a car wheel engagingthe surface 13 and the opening of the circuit in response to the carwheel engaging the surface 1.4 is determined by the speed at which thecar wheel moves from the point where it engages the surface 13 to thepoint where it engages the surface 14. That is to say, the circuitincluding these contacts can be utilized to control time measuringdevices, many of which are well known to the art, that will indicate thespeed at which the car whee]. moves along the track rail between thesetwo points.

Associated with the rocker arm 11 is a trip arm 41 journalled by atrunnion pin 42 hav ing bearings in the casting 10 and in the outer endof the trip arm 41 swings downward under the action of gravity to apoint where the contact surface 43 is down out of posi' tion to beengaged by the flange of a car wheel. The trip arm 41 is arrested in itsmovement by its right-hand end engaging the plate 44. The contaetor isprovided, of course, with proper covering to house all parts againstweather conditions.

Assuming a car wheel to move along the track rail R in the normaldirection as indicated by the arrow, it will pass over the trip arm 41without engagement. As the Wheel reaches the point where its flangeengages the surface 13, the rocker arm 11 is depressed against theaction of spring 25 until the left-hand end is broughtto a point wherepin 18 is below the center line of the bearing pins 20 and 21 and thespring 25 becomes effective to force the arm 11 still further downwarduntil its movement is arrested by the stop 29 coming in contact with thesurface 30-. The toggle spring latch 15 then holds the arm firmly inthis position. This moving of the rocker arm 11 from its normal to itsreverse position causes the pins 33 and 34 to open or close, as the casemay be, the circuit that includes the Contact springs 36 and 37. Thecontact surface 14 is now raised to a position where it will be engagedby the flange of a car wheel, and'thus as soon as the car wheel hasadvanced to the rlght to the point where it engages the surface 14, itdepresses the right-hand end of the arm 11 against the action of thespring 25 and when the arm reaches a point where the pin 18 moves abovethe center line of the bearing pins 20 and 21, the toggle spring 25 iseffective to rotate the arm 11 until the stop 27 rests against thesurface 28. That is to say, the rocker arm 11 is moved back to normalposition and the circuit controller operated to close, or open, thecircuit that includes the contact springs 36 and 37 in response to theflange of the car wheel engaging the surface 14. Each car wheel movingover the contaetor in the normal direction will cause the rocker arm 11and the circuit controlled thereby to be operated in the manner justdescribed above. It is to be noted that the flange of the car wheelneeds to de- Cir Le respective'ends oftherocker arm far enough to bringit to a point where e spring 25 becomes effective to complete the lmovement of the arm and that variations in the depth of flange ofdifferent car Wheels doesnot cause corresponding variations in themovement of the contactor. It is also to be noted that the movement ofthe rocker arm in each-direction is positively brought about by thecar-wheel and that the arm is firmly held in the position to which itwas last mo vo'd by the toggle spring latch 15. lVhile the trip arm 41will be operated'in step with the rocker arm 11 as a car wheel passesover the contactor in the normal direction, the trip arm performs nouseful function at this time. As stat-ed above, the distance between thecontact surfaces 13 and 14 being a fixed distance, it is apparent thatthe interval of time between the two operations of the circintcontrolled by the movement of the arm 11 is in accordance with thespeed. of the car w .l. Assuming a car wheel passes over the confactorin the reverse direction, that is, from car wheel moves on away from thecontactor. However, as the left-hand end of arm 11 is forced downward,the trip arm 41 is actuated to raise its left-hand end to a position tobe engaged by the car wheel, and thus as the car wheel moves on to theleft, its flange engages the contact surface 43 of the trip arm 41depressing the trip arm. This depressing of the trip arm 41 causes itsrighthand end to be raised forcing the rocker arm 3 11 to a point wherethe toggle spring 25 is effective to return the rocker arm to its fullnormal position, it being understood, that the distance between thecontact surfaces 43 and 13 is made less than the shortest'distancebetween any two wheels of the car. Thus it is clear that the contactoris left in its normal position. after a car wheel has passed over thecontactor in a reverse direction and any control circuit governed by thecontactor is left in its normal operating position even though a carwheel has passed over the contactor in the reverse direction. The importance of having a track rail contactor automatically left in its normalposition after a car wheel has passed over it in the reverse diprotectedfrom weather conditions and is positive in its action. Furthermore, theextent of its movement is always the same for all car wheels althoughthere may be decided variations in the depth of flange of different carwheels. Another advantage of a contactor constructed in accordance withmy invenbe made therein within the scope of the appended claims withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A track rail contactor comprising a member having a normal positionand a reverse position adapted to be moved from its normal position toits reverse position and then back to its normal position in response toa car wheel moving on the track rail in a normal direction and to bemoved from its normal position to its reverse position only in responseto a car wheel moving on the track rail in a reverse direction, acircuit controlling contact actuated by said member having a normal anda reverse positioncorresponding to the normal and reverse positions ofsaid member, and a second member actuated by a car wheel moving on'thetrack rail in the reverse direction to restore the first mentionedmember to its normal position.

2. A track rail contactor comprising a. member having a normal positionand a reverse position adapted to be moved from its normal position toits reverse position and then back to its normal position in response toa car wheel moving a predetermined distance on the track rail in anormal direction, and to be moved from its normal position to itsreverse position only in response to a car Wheel moving on the trackrail in a reverse direction, a circuit controlling contact actuated bysaid member and having a normal .and a reverse position corresponding tothe normal and reverse positions of the member, and a second memberactuated by a car wheel moving on the track rail in the reversedirection to restore the first mentioned member to its normal position.7

3. A track rail contactor comprising a member havinga normal positionand a reverse position adapted to be actuated from its normal positionto its reverse position and then back to its normal position in responseto a car Wheel moving on the track rail in a normal direction, a circuitcontrolling contact actuated by the member having a normal and a reverseposition corresponding to the normal and reverse positions of themember, and a trip arm actuated by a car Wheel movmg on the track railin the reverse direction away from said member to restore the mem her toits normal position and thereby reestablish the normal position of saidcontact member after a car wheel has moved along the rail in a reversedirection.

a. A track rail contact-or comprising a rocker arm normally positionedwith respect to a traffic rail to have first a given end and then theopposite end depressed as a car wheel moves along the traffic rail in anormal direction, a latch to retain the rocker arm in the position towhich it is moved when either end is depressed by a car wheel, a triparm adapted. to be engaged by a car wheel moving away from the given endof the rocker arm in the reverse direction to restore said arm to itsnormal position and a control device operated by the rocker arm.

5. A track rail contactor comprising a rocker arm mounted adjacent atraflic rail having a normal position in which a given end is raised toa position to be engaged by a car wheel and the opposite end lowered outof engaging position and adapted to have first its given end depressedand the opposite end raised and then the opposite end depressed and thegiven end raised by a car wheel moving on the trafiic rail in a normaldirection, and to have its given end depressed and the opposite endraised only by a car wheel moving in the reverse direction, a trip armadapted to be engaged by a car wheel moving away from the given end ofthe rocker arm in the reverse direction to restore the rocker arm to itsnormal position, and a control device operated by the rocker arm.

6. A track rail contactor comprising a rocker arm located at the side ofa track rail and adapted to be oscillated to a normal positi on or to areverse position, a toggle spring latch toforce the rocker arm to itsnormal position in response to a car wheel depressing one end of therocker arm below a given point and to force the rocker arm to itsreverse position in response to a car Wheel depressing the opposite endof the rocker arm below a given point, and a circuit controlling contactactuated by the rocker arm.

7 A track rail contactor comprising a circuit controlling rocker armlocated at the side of a track rail and adapted to be oscillated to anormal position or to a reverse position, a toggle to force the rockerarm to its normal position in response to a car wheel depressing one endof the rocker arm below a given point and to force the rocker arm to itsreverse position in response to a car Wheel a depressing the oppositeend of the rocker arm below a given point, and a trip arm having aposition where it is engaged by a car wheel arranged for at times tomove said rocker arm from its reverse position to the point where saidtoggle forces said arm to its normal position.

8. A track rail contactor comprising a rocker arm each end of which isprovided with a contact surface with a predetermined distance betweensaid surfaces, said arm adapted to be moved from a normal position to areverse position in response to a car wheel engaging the surface of oneend of said arm and to be moved from the reverse position back to thenormal position in response to the car wheel engaging the surface of theopposite end of the arm, a latch to retain the arm in the position towhich it has been moved until it is again moved by a car wheel, and acontrolling means having a normal and a reverse position actuated bysaid rocker arm in step with its movements to thereby determine theinterval required by the car Wheel to move the predetermined distancebetween the two Contact surfaces of said rocker arm.

In testimony whereof I ailiX my signature.

JOHN WV. LIVINGSTON.

